If passed, the bill would direct the Department of State to prioritize protecting LGBT people worldwide. The bill would require the department to develop a strategy to promote and protect LGBT rights worldwide and also appoint a “Special Envoy on the Human Rights of LGBT People” to oversee the strategy.

According to American Jewish World Service, a chief proponent of the bill, 77 countries jail people for having same-sex relations. Five of those countries allow LGBT people to be put to death.

“Defending the rights of LGBT people worldwide is crucial, as many governments are passing punitive laws and sanctioning acts of hate against LGBT people,” said Ruth Messinger, president of AJWS. “As American Jews, we are members of a minority whose rights have been trampled in the past, and we understand fully that neither nor our government can stand by as the rights of vulnerable minorities are trampled in other parts of the world.”

Asher Brown, left, and Rep. Garnet Coleman

Today as LGBT citizens from around the state converged on Austin to lobby lawmakers on LGBT issues, state Rep. Garnet Coleman, a Democrat from Houston, introduced “Asher’s Law,” a bill that would “help protect our children before they are terrorized and traumatized both physically and mentally,” according to a press release from Coleman’s office.

Before this session of the Texas Legislature even began, Coleman had prefiled HB 1386. Asher’s Law — HB 2343 — is identical to that earlier legislation except that Coleman renamed it in honor of Asher Brown, a gay 13-year-old from Houston who committed suicide last year after enduring relentless bullying from his classmates and peers.

Coleman said that he renamed the legislation with the permission of Asher’s parents, Amy and David Truong. Coleman said, “The Truongs are acting with grace and courage. They are allowing a tremendous personal tragedy be a catalyst for change in state statute. We should honor them.”

Coleman said that Asher’s Law, if passed, would direct the Department of State Health Services and the Texas Education Agency to implement a program to recognize students at risk of emtoional trauma or committing suicide, intervene effectively and refer students to mental health services if necessary. The bill would require school districts to report incidents of harassment and bullying to the TEA annually and to train district employees on preventing bullying and harassment. It also addresses harassment and discrimination by school district employees toward students and other employees.

In addition, Asher’s Law gives school districts the option of transferring a bully, instead of current practice which is to transfer the student being bullied.

Coleman has filed similar bills in every legislative session since 2003. Prior to that year, he supported similar bills filed in each session by then state Rep. Harryette Ehrhardt, a Dallas Democrat.

Rep. Garnet Coleman

State Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, has filed a bill that he says is designed to prevent future tragedies like the suicide of Asher Brown, a gay 13-year-old who took his own life last year in response to bullying at school.

Coleman’s HB 1386, filed today, calls on the state to develop a comprehensive suicide prevention program for middle, junior and high schools. The bill would also ban anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and discrimination in public schools.

“This is a heartbreaking public health threat which we need to address,” Coleman said in a press release. “I’m sick of nothing happening. We need to protect our children before they are driven to suicide or become severely and emotionally ill.

“It is our responsibility to ensure that a school is a safe learning environment for all children,” Coleman added. “Our children should focus on their studies, not worry about verbal and physical threats from their peers.

“Too many young lives are being taken because of intimidation and countless more are at risk,” he said. “This tragic loss of life is completely preventable.

“Current policy unjustly continues to punish the victim. We need to change that.”

The bill is similar to one Coleman has filed in every legislative session since 2003.

To read the full text of HB 1386, go here. We’ve posted Coleman’s press release after the jump.

DSHS wanted patient notes added to secure online server to help in audits; agencies say risk to confidentiality was too great

LEADING THE FIGHT | Raeline Nobles, executive director of AIDS Arms Inc., took the lead in negotiating with DSHS to keep AIDS service organizations from being forced to put confidential client information on an online server.

Local AIDS agencies have prevailed over a Department of State Health Services mandate to post all confidential client notes on an Internet database.

The agencies began battling the mandate after state officials claimed that ARIES, the new database, would be secure but could not provide a list of who would have access to the system to the agencies.

He said immigration status, incidents of domestic violence and other personal information would all become public. He sent his staff for training on the system but instructed agency employees not to enter any information.

Bret Camp, associate executive director of health and medical services at Nelson Tebedo Clinic, said, “We have information available for review. We will not be entering information in ARIES.”

Dallas County sided with local AIDS service providers. After almost a year of negotiations, the state compromised and will allow agencies to provide the data needed by the state without posting confidential notes on line.

The only objections to using the system came from Dallas.

Raeline Nobles, executive director of AIDS Arms, said all agencies funded by Ryan White Part B money in Texas would be affected.

Houston doesn’t receive this type of funding. Agencies in other parts of the state told Nobles they were too small to fight the new mandate.

That left Dallas organizations to lead the fight to protect personal information from being compromised on line.

“We were successful,” said Nobles, who led the opposition and negotiated with the state on behalf of the county and Dallas AIDS service providers.

“DSHS has come back and decided to negotiate a fair and equitable deal,” she said. “Austin has done the right thing on behalf of clients and agencies.”

The state agency told both Nobles and Maison that it needed all of the client notes to audit the agencies. They said allowing state officials to examine the agencies without traveling to the various locations across the state would save money. The state, however, pays the county to review agency records.

Greg Beets, DSHS public information coordinator for HIV/STD programs, said that the reason behind ARIES is to codify and evaluate HIV services across the state. He said confidentiality was the state’s biggest concern as well.

“The data helps provide a snapshot of what services are being provided and identify unmet service needs,” Beets said.

Beets said that the system met standards developed at a national level and a series of measures would ensure security. Those measures included limited access to the information on a need-to-know basis, security at the building in which the computer was housed and encrypted information.

Those assurances did not satisfy Dallas AIDS agencies. Nobles pointed out that from time to time information is compromised from financial institutions that spent quite a bit of money on their technology.

“If information ever got out to the public, we’d be liable,” Nobles said.

Several years ago, the state required AIDS organizations to invest millions in new computer record keeping systems. She said all of the information is currently kept on a secure computer database within the agency. That computer system is not Internet-based.

Nobles’ agency raised several hundred thousand dollars to satisfy the unfunded mandate to build their database, and, she said, Parkland spent more than $1 million on their system.

To move the information to the new state computer system would be a complete waste of that money the state required her to raise from local donors, Nobles said.

She explained she feared moving the information off the database to a state system would compromise her credibility with her agency’s donors.

“But privacy is the number one issue,” Nobles said. “We can’t build a reliable relationship with clients if they don’t believe it’s confidential.”

Maison was even more adamant.

“This agency would be in court,” Maison said. “It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to see what this policy does to make people run from care.”

Maison said people with HIV who use public services give up quite a bit of their privacy, “But to invite the government into your daily life is not acceptable.”

Nobles said she was never arguing about the state’s right to see AIDS Arms’ records. “Any time a government public health funder needs to audit, they can do so,” she said. She said that the information the state needs is statistical information.

But, Nobles added, she couldn’t imagine what use the client notes would have been.

The state will maintain the ARIES system. Nobles said smaller agencies, especially in rural areas that could not afford their own database, might want to use it.

Maison was happy with the outcome.

“I don’t recall being on the same side as the county before,” said Maison, who has headed ASD for more than 20 years.

Camp was also pleased with the outcome. “I’m very pleased Dallas County understood the importance of client confidentiality and backed the service providers,” he said.

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition August 13, 2010.